Text, Vivian G. Kelly
Backstage images, Vivian G. Kelly
Images of Fashion Show, courtesy of Laurence Teinturier & France Ligne
WHEN: Breakfast, 10:25AM
ABOUT THE CURVE DESIGNER LINGERIE & SWIM SHOW™
When PR organizer, Laurence Teinturier of France Ligne told us that there would be 80 looks, we were relieved. Normally, in a RTW show, anything past 35 looks doesn’t bode well if you intend on keeping a fashion audience’s limited attention span. In this case though, Laurence and the rest of the organizers at CURVE put together a comprehensive show with enough entertainment breaks/interludes to keep us focused.
Another great idea - having the show as “a breakfast”, when everyone’s still fresh and not wilted from a day of trolling the enormous Javitz Center. Some CURVE attendees also attended the ENK and MODA shows, logging a few miles in the name of fashion. Our LYRA colleague, Judith Ecochard’s reported of these shows.
THE CCB-CURVE CATWALK BREAKFAST FASHION SHOW
Designer Lingerie & Swim Show™
The show space were packed with buyers, press and a sprinkling of exhibitors’ on break, not an empty chair in the place, and a full photo pit; an impressive attendance for a first thing in the morning event for a Monday morning in August.
They delivered on the entertainment part of the even mid-way with a Caribbean quartet of instrumentalists and a female dancer performing in an embroidered black bra and a peacock green and bronze mini skirt.
They also borrowed a page from Victoria’s Secret in that they injected a little bit of fun into the show. The first models opened the show accessorized with whimsical scrunchies in their hair, tutus and a few even brandished bubble guns blowing bubbles into the audience.
If you’ve previously scoffed at the notion of wearing matched sets of lingerie and cover-ups, seeing this show would change your mind. A buyer next to us murmured “adorable” when WARCOAL’s pink bra with polka dots and coordinating panty came out.
SEGMENT: AN AIR OF REFINEMENT
The manufacturer sitting next to us from HANKY PANKY affirmed, “absolutely, women are buying matched sets, they’re back.” As the program notes state, these sets, such as the light blue mesh push-up bra set by PASCALE MADONNA PARIS and the dark green cup and embroidered bra by NATORI really did add “an air of refinement” to lingerie. One of our favorites, a forever classic – a platinum gray silk lounging pajama lounging set by SILK ATTRACTION was part of this grouping. We agree with DAN SACKROWITZ, Vice President, Marketing & Business Development, for BARE NECESSITIES, [whom we met at the Telegraphe café next to the Altman Building later that day] who firmly believes that “the lingerie business is really just getting started in the USA. Says Dan, “We’ve found that women ARE willing to pay more for a perfectly fitting bra and once they’ve discovered high quality lingerie that fits, they don’t go back.”
To see designs from Bare Necessities, visit their website
www.barenecessities.com
SEGMENT: SHAPEWEAR
These body shapers used to be shoved in the back of the lingerie department but they look so much better these days that thanks to companies such as BODY WRAP SHAPEWEAR that produce items like a flesh toned 1-piece, you’ll be wanting to showoff these items rather than keeping them under wraps.
SEGMENT: ECO POETRY
We’ve been talking about how loungewear is an increasingly hot category for a while now, and were happy to see some great white sets that were described as “pajamas” but could easily take you to a trip to the grocery store or a casual dinner out.
Best: the long sleeve ivory pajamas from ARLOTTA BY CHRIS ARLOTTA.
SEGMENT: ETHNIC MODERNITY
If you’re a fan of tunic dressing, you’ll love DIAMOND TEA’s jungle style caftan with black ace insets. The animal print, whether it’s leopard, cheetah, zebra, giraffe, is now a classic in every aspect of fashion from RTW, swim, lingerie, or accessories.
These days, as we saw at MARLIES DEKKERS, there’s no need to give up on sexy lingerie or loungewear just because you happen to be pregnant or nursing.
A GREAT DRESS [pregnant or not!] – KE’KOQUETA’S dark green empire dress.
FINALE SEGMENT: BLOOMING COCKTAIL
A beautiful Polynesian dancer outfitted in a crystal studded purple bra and thong and a feather headdress kicked off the finale. If we closed our eyes, we could easily imagine we were attending Carnival in Rio rather than sitting at a fashion show in the Javitz Center.
A black baby doll dress with a chartreuse satin inset bra form LISA’S FOLLY DELUXE opened this closing segment and it was one of the strongest looks.
Also in Chartruese was the black lace and chartreuse bustier and matching thong. While we’ve never been big fans of red lingerie, the red lace bra and boy short by HANKY PANKY looked fantastic.
To view more of Hanky Panky’s collection, visit their website,
www.hankypanky.com
A FEW NOTES ABOUT THE COLOR PALETTE
Some of the hottest looks emulated RTW – grape, dark green, brown, but in rich jewel tones that reminded us of the color palette at REEM ACRA’s Spring 2008 RTW Collection.
HAIR AND MAKEUP NOTES
We’ve yet to see lingerie or swim shows in which the girl’s DON’T have long hair and are dominated by gorgeous Brazilian girls, but we’re not complaining!
END NOTES/ABOUT THE MODELS:
A swim model ‘with the exception of stars such as May Anderson who appeared in Diesel at the Mercedes Benz Swim Show in Miami last month] is a different animal than a catwalk model.
We commend CURVE for representing all body types and nationalities of models in the 80 exit long show, including a plus size model and a pregnant models. Everyone on stage looked wonderful. We’d love to see more fashion shows follow their example. Stay tuned to see what happens on the New York Runways in September.
For more information about the designers who show at Curve and to check in about their other shows, visit their official website:
www.curveexpo.com